If You Want to Follow the Law...Throw Out Your Bacon!

I got involved with a discussion on-line where someone was criticizing Rick Warren because of his "unbiblical" view of homosexuality. Apparently, not equating homosexuality with rape, incest and pedophilia is unbiblical. Anyway, in response, one man wrote "If our country had just laws they would put to death people who practiced any of the three." He goes on to say that if we don't support such laws, then we don't believe that God's law is just. So I decided to put Deuteronomy 21:18-21 to the test, and (surprisingly) he agreed that the government should put the "bad cases" of rebellious children to death.

So if the OT Law is meant to be the norm for every government, what does that mean? Well, dietary restrictions should be enforced (meaning you're in BIG trouble if you like bacon). Oh and the sacrificial system should be restored, for after all, it is God's law, and it is just. Basically, if you've ever sinned, you're screwed.

Paul tells the Galatians: "I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law" (Galatians 5:3). Paul's point is that, by embracing as ideal and required one element of the law, you must then embrace it all. But the whole message to the Galatians is that in Christ we are free from the law!

So then who are we to impose those same laws as the norm for government? Our founding fathers were right to call for the separation of Church and State. How many millions of people would have to be executed each year because they are unable to keep the Law? And we're supposed to say that they deserve to die? I'm having a huge problem with this line of thinking.

Should our government have just laws? Yes. Should our government have laws that protect the weak and punish the criminal? Yes. But should the death penalty be applied to everything?

When the religious law enforcement of Jesus' time brought him a woman caught in adultery, what did Jesus say should happen to her? They were ready to stone her. But did Jesus give them a green light? Not hardly. "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7). Jesus takes us to the heart of the matter: yes sin is horrible and grievous (notice that he didn't say she deserved to live...), but in our fallen and broken state, all of us deserve death and therefore don't have the right to pass such judgment on others.

How long would you survive if the Old Testament Law was in place as the law of the land? How do we balance the need for justice with the need for grace? Should we support the death of anyone?

The Most Important Bible Passage on Homosexuality

There's several different answers that I usually hear for this question. Occasionally you hear Sodom and Gomorrah thrown in (Genesis 19). But here's some of the main ones:

Leviticus 18:22 "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them."

Romans 1:26-27: "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."

Quite frankly, these miss the mark. Now before you pick up the stones to throw, let me ask you a question: Where is the hope for people who have committed homosexual sin? Seriously, from these verses alone, there is none. And that's why I don't think that these are the most important passages in the Bible on homosexuality. As Al Mohler once said: "Homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say after we declare that homosexuality is a sin."

Personally, I think 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 should be our flagship passage in addressing this topic.

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (emphasis added)

This passage sums up clearly what Christians need to communicate when talking about homosexuality.
1. Homosexuality is clearly identified as a sin, along with other sins that keep people out of the kingdom. Homosexuality is not singled out and targeted as the only sin that keeps people from God, as is often the case with our speaking about it.
2. Grace is held out to the sinner through the power of Christ to transform. It's through his blood that we are cleansed, declared righteous and made to be holy as we ought to be. Christ is the remedy for all sin, even homosexuality.

To only focus on homosexuality as a sin is harsh and judgmental. And to condemn sin without offering the remedy is just downright hateful. But verse eleven clearly says that there are those who are changed by Christ's power - not their own willpower or choice or determination. Christ transformed them. Indeed it is Christ who transforms all of us.

The bottom line: don't just talk about sin. Talk about the remedy. Because in the end just telling someone they're going to hell and are without hope is ineffective. But to point them to Christ alone as the source for healing, forgiveness, and transformation is what the gospel is all about.